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BOUNTIFUL — Fiber internet has spread throughout Utah in recent years, and Bountiful is now on deck for faster internet after the City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve the buildout of a city-owned fiber network by Murray-based service provider UTOPIA Fiber.
To fund the construction of the network, Bountiful is issuing a $48 million bond.
While the network will be owned by the city, it will be operated entirely by UTOPIA Fiber, which will lease the fiber to other internet service providers in an open-access structure.
This type of structure creates a competitive marketplace where internet service providers have to "compete for customers and have incentives to innovate rather than simply locking out competitors with a de facto monopoly," according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
"The purpose of the city's involvement with fiber is to provide a competitive marketplace for internet service providers through an open-access network," Gary Hill, Bountiful city manager, wrote in a letter to the council. "Resident requests and sentiment ... demonstrate a need for city involvement to provide adequate, competitive, reliable broadband services."
The debt service for the bond will be paid for using system revenues, according to the letter.
"Based on conservative estimates of take rates provided by UTOPIA, Bountiful Fiber should have enough customers to generate a profit above debt service beginning in year five," Hill said.
The journey to bring fiber internet to Bountiful has been years in the making.
It started in 2020 when the city began exploring the need, demand and desire for fiber-based internet services after requests from residents.
"The COVID-19 pandemic had recently forced residents to seek more online services such as education and remote work access. City elected officials and staff began hearing more from concerned citizens about their frustrations and difficulty of obtaining reliable and high-quality internet services in Bountiful," the letter said.
In February 2021, Bountiful's mayor and city council directed city staff to begin looking into options of "providing fiber internet services to all homes and businesses in Bountiful."
Then, in April 2021, a request for information was released to fiber providers and resulted in four potential providers being interviewed. Four months later, in August 2021, the results of the request were shared with the mayor and council, who then directed Magellan Advisors to perform a feasibility study, according to the letter.
Good policy is usually something that's intended to best serve the constituency of people by providing a solution to a problem. Many of us here today ... believe that deploying a citywide fiber network is simply good policy for Bountiful residents.
–Cecilee Price-Huish, Bountiful Councilwoman
Following a nine-month feasibility study, the City Council again tasked city staff with issuing a request for proposals for a fiber provider to build and operate a city-owned fiber network.
"The ideal partner would have experience in both areas and a track record of cost-effective and rapid deployment. Over the next several months, city staff worked with partners Keller and Heckman to develop the (request for proposals). It was released on Nov. 1, 2022," the letter said.
In December, two "qualified firms" were interviewed by an internal review team. After seeing the results — which were shared with the council in January — the council directed staff to begin contract negotiations with UTOPIA Fiber.
On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved the buildout of the fiber network.
"Good policy is usually something that's intended to best serve the constituency of people by providing a solution to a problem," Councilwoman Cecilee Price-Huish said during Tuesday's meeting. "Many of us here today ... believe that deploying a citywide fiber network is simply good policy for Bountiful residents."
The initial contract term is 10 years, and construction of the network is anticipated to take two to three years. Customers in certain areas will have access to fiber within 18 months of construction beginning, according to the letter.
An 81-page report that takes a deeper look and has more details into the contract between Bountiful and UTOPIA Fiber can be found here.
